Zhane looked young and very human in his loose-fitting silver pajamas. He had one of Andros' old sweatshirts wrapped around his shoulders, but for once he wasn't complaining about the cold. Instead, he was frowning over the emptiness of the hangar and the light she had left on beside the door.

"They're still not back yet?" he asked, jerking his head toward the light as he wandered down the stairs. He looked a little worried, and she was careful not to smile as she shook her head.

"They call?" He was trying and failing to look casual about the whole thing. "I figured they'd already be asleep by the time we got back, and that was hours ago."

"Neither Ashley nor Andros has contacted me," she said gently. "However, I am confident that if they had run into trouble they would have alerted us by now."

He shrugged, taking a seat on the bottom stair. "They can take care of themselves," he agreed unconvincingly. "I was just curious."

"Of course." She studied him for a moment, wondering if he had even been to bed yet. She had been keeping track of his increasingly erratic sleep patterns, and she didn't like what she was seeing. It didn't seem to be impairing his ability to function... yet.

"Whatcha doing?" Zhane asked, leaning back against the railing as he looked around the zord bay. She didn't need the light, but he probably saw little more than shadows in the dimness. "Anything exciting keeping you here at this hour?"

"The anticipation of your company," she informed him, and he gave her a sharp look. Her holographic interface smiled slightly. "I believe the appropriate followup is 'gotcha.'"

He relaxed, grinning ruefully at her. "Getting to be kind of a habit, I guess."

"Indeed." She wondered if stating the obvious might lead him to voluntarily elaborate on her observations. "You have not been sleeping well recently."

He shrugged again, as though it didn't matter. "Wasn't sleeping. I was reading and I got bored, so I figured I'd come down."

"Why were you reading?" she countered. "Whatever you are doing with your time, the fact that you are still awake does little to disprove my point."

"Yes, okay, I was reading because I couldn't sleep," he grumbled. "Are you happy? What does it matter, anyway?"

"It matters because humans must spend a certain amount of time sleeping in order to operate at peak efficiency," she said sternly. "You know this. I am only trying to ascertain whether there is anything I can do to help you achieve said effect."

He sighed. "If you could be a little less computer-like, that would help a lot."

She adjusted her speech patterns accordingly, moderating her tone at the same time. "I'm sorry," she said carefully. "I'm worried about you, Zhane."

"That makes two of us," he said, with a half-hearted attempt at flippancy.

"Tell me what's wrong," she suggested. "You know I'll do anything I can to help."

He smiled up at her, and it looked genuine. "You do help, DECA. Just by being here, and listening even when I don't want to talk."

"Is that a hint?" she inquired. "Because I'm not going to take it. Are your dreams so bad that you can't face the thought of sleep?"

"No." He shifted uncomfortably, refusing to look at her hologram any longer. "I'm not... I'm not having nightmares. I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

If he wasn't having nightmares, then he had been lying to her for several weeks now. Yet if he didn't want to talk about it, why tell her the truth now? She concluded that he did, in fact, want to share his feelings with someone, but he didn't know how to do it.

"Okay," she repeated, reviewing his physical state each time she had seen him leave his room at odd hours of the night. "But if they weren't bad dreams, they must have been very good ones."

His head jerked up, and he gave her the strangest stare. "I'm glad you're not really my mother," he remarked at last. "Could you go back to your regular voice? I think it was weirder to hear you say that like a normal person."

"If I have at times tried to simulate a maternal influence in your life, it is only because I felt it would have a beneficial effect," she told him. "Although I will never replace what you and Andros have lost, it was my observation that during your first days aboard the Megaship you responded positively to my adopted voice and appearance."

"Yeah," he said softly. "We did."

After a moment in which neither of them spoke, Zhane added, "I didn't mean to make it sound like I don't want your opinion. I just meant... sometimes it's easier to talk to you because you're not my mom, you know?"

"You would not wish to tell your parents about your attraction to Andros," she surmised.

"Well..." He swallowed. "Sure I would. I guess. I mean, Ma and Pa are the only parents I remember, and I told them."

"Did you tell them that you are dreaming of sexual encounters between Andros and yourself?"

Zhane shifted uncomfortably. "Okay," he muttered. "I changed my mind. There isn't any way you can say that that makes it less embarrassing."

"I assume that is a negative," she said calmly.

"No, you don't," he retorted. "You just want to know if it's true. You don't care whether I told Ma and Pa anything."

Her hologram inclined its head in acknowledgement. "I have found it is often less offensive to comment than it is to directly question. The approach has no basis in logic, but it is effective."

He didn't reply, and she wondered if he noted the irony of her explanation. No matter its usual effect, the technique had not produced the desired results this time. Zhane hadn't answered either question--the one she had asked or the one she had not--and he was not showing any signs of being more forthcoming in the immediate future.

"It is my assumption that you are here for conversation, not silent company," she informed him. "Therefore, I will continue asking questions until you tell me to stop."

Zhane twisted around further, putting one foot on the stair in front of him as he settled more comfortably against the railing. "That's why I'm here," he agreed, speaking more to the stairs than to her. "But I have a favor to ask first."

"Anything I am capable of is yours to request," she reminded him.

That made him smile a little. "Tell me when they get back, okay? I don't want them to find me waiting up for them."

"I will alert you in time for your presence to go undetected," she promised. When he nodded, she added, "Are you 'waiting up' for them?"

He nodded again, and she waited for him to elaborate. "It didn't bother me like this before," he said at last. "They used to go out all the time, on Earth. I was okay with that. I mean, it's not what I wanted, but I didn't obsess over it."

"You find yourself obsessing over it now?" she inquired gently.

"Yeah," he admitted. "Whenever they're together I wonder what they're talking about. When they look at each other I wonder what they're thinking. And when they go out together... well, I kind of understand why Andros flipped out over Ty."

She was quiet, recognizing his reflective expression.

"I told him I wasn't trying to get back at him." Zhane glanced up at her hologram, then away. "With Ty, I mean. But I was. I like Ty, and damn, he's gorgeous, but..."

When he trailed off, she ventured, "Andros' jealousy is better than his indifference?"

His shoulder twitched, and he started tapping his fingers against the next stair impatiently. "Sounds pretty childish when you put it like that, huh?"

"No," she responded. "It sounds like a natural reaction to being ignored by someone you care about. You want him to understand how you feel, and if he won't listen to words than you must find another way to communicate."

"There must have been a better way," he muttered, picking at the metal grid that made up the stairs' surface. "Andros didn't deserve what I did, and Ty sure as hell didn't."

"I do not believe Ty holds your actions against you," she offered.

"No," Zhane agreed gloomily. "He knew what I was doing before I did. That doesn't make it right."

"There is no absolute standard for morality," she remarked. "What is right in one situation may be wrong in another. Judgement is subjective."

"There's no one more entitled to judge me than me," Zhane declared. "And I say that I'm an idiot."

"I say that you are too harsh," she countered. "In terms of emotional impact, you caused Andros to feel nothing that you had not already felt. Revenge may not be any basis for action, but you are clearly able to forgive Andros. Why not yourself?"

"Because whatever Andros did, it only affected me," Zhane replied immediately. "So the only forgiveness he needs is mine, and that's a given. What I did affected everyone, and I haven't even apologized."

"Neither has Andros," she pointed out. "Yet you forgave him anyway. Is it not reasonable to assume that he has forgiven you in return?

"What about Ty?" she added, when he didn't answer. "You said yourself that he knows what happened. Yet he does not appear to hold any sort of grudge. Is it not possible that the only person angry with you is you?"

He stretched out the leg he had braced on the stairs, resting his foot against the railing on the other side. He looked at it for a long time, all the while poking his fingers into the grating without watching what he was doing. Finally he said, "Tell me why Ash shouldn't hate me, then."

"What should and should not be has very little to do with what is," she replied. "'Should' is a product of your own mind, while 'is' is a product of community consensus. Do you truly believe Ashley is upset with you?"

He ground his hand into the grating, making his skin go white around the edges of his palm. "She should be," he muttered.

After a moment, though, he relaxed his hand and looked up. "No," he told the darkness that lurked on the other side of the stairs. "I don't think she's mad at me. I guess... maybe you're right. Maybe I'm mad at myself."

"Why?"

He drew in a deep breath. He let it out without answering, but she could see that he was thinking about it. He might not answer her questions, but maybe he could come to terms with some of his own.

"Andros' hover is approaching the hangar," she said at length. She was almost sorry to disturb him, but he just nodded absently and swung his bare feet down to rest on the floor again.

"Thanks," he said, getting to his feet. "And... thanks."

"Zhane." She stopped him just as he started back up the stairs. "If you wish, I can make you something that will help you sleep."

He just shook his head. "It doesn't matter so much since we stopped sharing a room," he said, mouth quirking in an odd half-smile. Turning away, he added, "Thanks, though."

He was gone long before the door opened.

***

DECA had left the light on for them. Ashley smiled in appreciation as she slipped in after Andros, her hand still in his as the door closed behind them. "Think she's still up?" she whispered.

"Who?" Andros whispered back. "DECA? She doesn't sleep. She's probably writing papers on superstring theory and interdimensional travel right now. While she runs zord diagnostics."

"And updates the Synthetron files," Ashley added with a giggle. "Jeff complained last time that she couldn't do a decent pot pie."

He keyed the stair lights, and she blinked in the sudden brightness. "DECA?" she murmured, wondering if the AI had retreated to the Megaship for the night.

A hologram with hair paler than Kerone and gold eyes that caught the light stepped out from behind the stairs. "Good morning," she greeted them. "I trust you enjoyed your evening out."

Ashley glanced at Andros and found him looking back. They both smiled at the same time, and Ashley ducked her head to hide her expression. "Yes," Andros answered for both of them. "We had a good time. What are you doing down here so late?"

"KERI and I are engaged in an ongoing effort to revise the Drake equation," she replied. "We are attempting to redefine the variables in such a way that it will become universally applicable."

"The what?" Ashley asked, when Andros only raised an eyebrow. "What's the Drake equation?"

"It is a mathematical exercise pursued by people on your own planet," DECA informed her. "The goal being to determine how many intelligent, communicating civilizations exist in your galaxy. Jeff's interest in an institution called 'SETI' brought it to my attention."

"Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence." Ashley smiled, wondering how long it would take DECA to complete the entire SETI@home project herself. She wasn't going to suggest it--the computer might decide to find out for the entertainment value alone.

"Precisely." DECA regarded them for a moment, then commented, "Perhaps you might answer a question for me."

"Sure," Ashley said, a little surprised. "What about?"

"How pervasive is the delusion on your planet that other civilizations do not exist?" DECA inquired.

Ashley choked on a giggle, and she saw Andros look away to hide a grin. "Um... it's pretty common, actually. Sorry."

"Interesting." The hologram considered their reactions for a moment, then seemed to dismiss the idea as one more eccentricity of Earth. "Thank you for your input."

"Sure," she repeated, unable to suppress a yawn. "I think that's all the input I've got for tonight, though. I'm going to head upstairs."

"Me too," Andros said quickly. He still hadn't let go of her hand. "Night, DECA."

"Good night," she replied politely. Ashley glanced over her shoulder as they started up the stairs, but her hologram was already gone.

By unspoken consent they passed Andros' door and paused outside her own. "I had a good time," he offered, his gaze searching hers. He looked a little uncertain, and it made her smile.

"Just kiss me," she whispered, lifting her face to his. He did, and it was exciting and just a little bit reassuring. He hadn't kissed her the way they had kissed tonight for a long time, and she had forgotten how right it made things seem.

"I'm going to ask Zhane about his date with Ty," he murmured, drawing back at last. "If he wants to know about ours, can I tell him?"

She nodded once, letting her forehead rest against his. "Yeah," she said softly. "Just... tell him everything, okay? Don't try to edit it."

"I won't," he promised, brushing his lips against hers once more. "I wouldn't. Thanks--thanks for tonight, Ash."

"Ditto," she murmured. "See you in the morning."

Her fingers caressed his cheek as he pulled away, and his smile melted her heart. "'Night, Ash," he whispered, and she smiled back.

"'Night," she echoed, fumbling with her door behind her back. She stepped backwards into her room, holding his gaze until the door closed between them. Lifting one hand to her mouth in the silence, she touched her own smile and sighed contentedly.

Andros loved her. She had begun to question that before she had any idea how he felt about Zhane, and ironically, now his feelings for Zhane were starting to alleviate her doubt. Andros had said it himself: he could barely handle one relationship. He would never deliberately seek out a second, and if he was struggling this hard to keep her, he wasn't doing it with anything but the most sincere motives.

She felt her way over to the window, intending to turn on her room's single light, but something outside caught her attention before she could find the switch. A ghostly glow illuminated the darkness outside. A ghostly purple glow. The more she squinted, the harder it was to figure out where it was coming from.

Not that she couldn't tell by the color, of course.

Pushing the window open, she climbed up onto the sill and crouched in the opening for a moment. It was a long way down. But she jumped off her zord all the time, right?

Ashley launched herself into the air before she could give anymore thought to what she was doing. She twisted around her center of gravity, slapping her hands down as her feet touched the ground to dissipate some of the impact. She grinned to herself as she straightened, her drowsiness vanishing in the wake of the adrenaline flooding her system. Just the kind of "stunt" Andros would chide her for, saying it took years off his life just to watch. Like he was any better.

"Kerone?" she called softly, looking around. A sparkle too close made her whirl, backing off even as she recognized the ephemeral quality of the graceful butterfly. Its wings were outlined with twinkling violet motes, making the in-between places look dark and shadowed.

As she followed it with her eyes, it passed just above the grass, which sparkled with its own kind of luminescence. It was as though someone had taken pixie dust and flung it carelessly in as wide a circle as they could reach. When she caught a glimpse of shimmering grass through the butterfly itself, she realized the in-between places of its wings weren't shadowed--they were nonexistent. It dipped too close to the grass and disintegrated, reforming higher in the air a moment later.

Something made her turn, and she saw Kerone drifting through the grass toward her. Not literally drifting, but it took her a moment to be sure. Andros' sister was... glowing. She shook off the violet sparkles when she saw Ashley watching, and some of the surreal quality vanished with them. But not all of it.

"Welcome to fairyland," she said quietly, a small smile on her face. "Did you just get back?"

Ashley nodded, afraid that if she spoke it would break the spell.

Kerone lifted both hands and traced a heart in the air with her fingers--literally. A heart sparkled in the air between them for a few seconds, then the sparkles seemed to burn themselves out and the shape faded into darkness. "Did you have fun?" she wanted to know.

"Yes," Ashley breathed, watching the butterfly flit over to alight on Kerone's shoulder. "Kerone... this is amazing."

Kerone only shrugged. The butterfly didn't disintegrate this time, instead rising and falling with her motion. Another appeared just over top of the grass, climbing into the air between them, and she watched it go. "Too much magic," she said, almost inaudibly. Gesturing with her left hand, she tossed a miniature fireball into the air and let it shower more sparkles down onto the grass.

"What did you say?" Ashley asked carefully. She had thought Kerone was just feeling quiet and reflective, if a bit... showy. But there was an odd look in her eyes that hadn't gone away yet, and the way she was moving made it look as though gravity had suddenly stopped working.

"Too much magic," Kerone repeated. A third butterfly joined the one spiraling up into the sky, and a little circle appeared around them when they got too high. They vanished as if falling into a portal, and a moment later they were back, tumbling over each other at eye level. "Haven't had to use it lately. Want to do something with it."

She was glowing again, and Ashley didn't think she even realized it. "Kerone?" She bit her lip, trying to remember if she'd ever seen Andros' sister do anything like this before. Maybe it only seemed strange because it was so... flamboyant. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm feeling fine." The butterfly on her shoulder turned into a lizard, crawling down her arm as she held it out and settling in the palm of her hand. "Don't you like it?"

"Sure I do," she said quickly. That was definitely not something Kerone would say under normal circumstances. "I'm just... wondering why you're doing it, that's all."

"Because it's pretty." Kerone held the lizard up to her face, staring at it as though it held all the answers in the universe. "And because I have to."

"Why?" Ashley asked, keeping her voice as casual as she could.

"Because," she said simply. "Want one?" she added, holding the lizard out to Ashley.

She smiled, a little uncertainly. "I... guess I like the butterflies better. Thanks, though."

The lizard curled and stretched, turning inside out before a butterfly lifted out of Kerone's hand where the lizard had been a moment before. "You can have it," Kerone offered. "It likes you. Just like me."

Ashley felt her eyes cross as she tried to keep track of the butterfly. Finally she lifted her hand to push it away, and it attached itself to her finger. She gave her hand a gentle shake, trying not to be alarmed, and the butterfly tumbled off. "I like you too," she said with a sigh. "Even when you freak me out."

"I didn't mean to." Kerone sounded almost sad. "I didn't think anyone else would be up."

"Have you done this before?" Ashley asked tentatively.

Kerone nodded, a distant expression on her face. "Ecliptor called them 'good days'."

"Is it... a good day?" Ashley watched the butterfly flitting around her face warily, but it settled on her shoulder just as it easily as it had on Kerone's. Once it was there it just sat there, opening and closing its wings.

"It was," Kerone said with a sigh. "When there were things to destroy."

Ashley blinked, but Kerone's dreamy look was unchanged. Someone else entirely could have said those words, for all that they were reflected in her expression. "Do you want to destroy things?" she asked neutrally.

"No." Kerone's eyes focused abruptly, and she frowned at Ashley. "Of course not. Why do you think I'm making butterflies and lizards and little fairy things? Does this--" she flung her hand out in a gesture that encompassed every glowing thing they could see. "Look dangerous to you?"

"No," Ashley admitted, relaxing a little as the alertness returned to her friend's gaze. "You just surprised me, that's all."

"Well, you're not the first one," Kerone muttered. "You should go to sleep. It'll be gone in the morning."

"Do you want me to go?" Ashley asked carefully. She glanced around, a smile tugging at her lips. "You're right, you know... it's really pretty."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kerone shrug. She understood then that that was probably the only answer she was likely to get, and she decided. "I'm staying," she announced, reaching up to touch the butterfly on her shoulder. It shimmied onto her finger of its own accord, and her smile widened. "This is cool."

***

Andros stared at her closed door for a long moment, and then his gaze tracked inevitably down the hall. What were the odds that Zhane was still awake? Probably pretty good, if his protests at KaliKay's were anything to go by.

Andros stepped as quietly as he could on the metal grating of the catwalk, pausing in front of Zhane's door. He turned inward, looking for the faint spark of warmth that had lit his mind for as long as he could remember. Ashley was fading as her attention turned to something else, but Zhane...

Zhane was bright and focused, clearly not asleep and just as obviously thinking about only one thing. Or more accurately, one person. Andros lifted his hand to knock before he could change his mind.

You own me, a little voice whispered, and he tried to shove it away. He was trying. He was doing his best, and if that wasn't enough then maybe Zhane deserved better.

Maybe? Definitely. So did Ashley, if it came to that, but he had long since stopped trying to tell her that. She made up her own mind. Ashley was strong enough to make her life into whatever she wanted it to be, and if she wanted him in it he knew nothing he could say would change her mind.

If she decided she didn't want him in it...

He refused to think about it. He knocked again, not bothering to increase his force. Zhane was wide awake, and he knew perfectly well who was at the door. It was just a question of whether he wanted to admit it or not.

The door opened mid-knock, and Zhane's flashlight cast a pool of light out into the hallway. "Hey," he said quietly, his face hidden in shadow. "I knew it was you."

"Yeah." Andros wasn't sure what else to say. "I... we just got back."

Zhane shifted, and Andros got the feeling he was being given a once over. "I figured," he agreed, his tone amused. "Unless you're sleeping in those clothes now."

"How was your date?" Andros asked awkwardly, when the silence started to stretch. "Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah." Zhane didn't elaborate, and his stare was too blank to reveal anything. "You?"

Andros nodded once, casting about for something to keep the conversation going. "Did you... did you just get back, too?"

"No." Zhane sounded positively curt. "I was reading."

"Okay," Andros said with a sigh. He wasn't sure exactly what had brought him to Zhane's door in the first place... it had just seemed like the right thing to do. "Well--I'll see you in the morning, then."

"Andros." Zhane stopped him just before he would have turned away. His smile looked forced, but he did smile. "Glad you're back."

Andros opened his mouth to say something just as casual. Instead what came out was, "Can I come in?"

Zhane just looked at him for a moment, and he swallowed. He shouldn't have said that; it could mean anything at this time of night and why had he thought Zhane would want to see him anyway? It was late. He was probably on his way to bed--

Zhane took a step back, moving out of the doorway in silent invitation.

Andros followed him, pausing when the light from the catwalk was lost with the closing of the door. Zhane's flashlight was the only thing illuminating the room, and he clicked it off almost immediately. Andros didn't move, heart racing until a chime preceded the flood of brilliance emanating from the lamp by Zhane's sleeping bags.

Zhane straightened, making no apology for the momentary darkness. "Come to interrogate me?" he asked quietly, hitching one hip up on the windowsill and staring at Andros from across the room.

He drew back, surprised by Zhane's tone. "No," he said, frowning a little. "Is that why you think I wanted to come in?"

Zhane shrugged, playing with the flashlight he still hadn't set down. "Why else would you be here now?"

"Because I missed you tonight," Andros blurted out. "Because I wanted to see you. I know it's selfish, but... I knew you were awake. I just--"

"Just what?" Zhane asked, when he stopped. The Silver Ranger smiled tentatively. "You were doing pretty well, there."

Andros bit back the impulse to tell him he sounded like Ashley. She was forever encouraging him when he stumbled, making him feel a little less clueless than he often suspected he was. "I just wanted to be with you," he muttered.

When Zhane didn't answer, he risked another look at his friend. Zhane was still smiling. "Funny," he said softly. "Sounds like we want the same thing."

He didn't even remember going over to the window, but he did know that Zhane had stood and moved out of the way, as though he thought Andros actually cared about the view. He caught Zhane's eye before he could get any farther away, and the Silver Ranger froze. The light was behind him, but even with the shadows on his face he wore an odd expression.

"Andros," he said quietly. "There's something you should know."

Andros was pretty sure the only thing he needed to know was whether Zhane would kiss him back if he started something now. Still, he had ignored things Zhane had been trying to tell him for quite a while, so he paused obediently. "What's that?"

*ANDROS!*

He gasped as the scream tore through his mind, and suddenly Zhane's hands were on his shoulders, steadying him. "Andros?" he was asking. "What's wrong?"

"You didn't hear that?" One look at Zhane's face was enough to convince him that the shout had been directed solely at him. He forced himself to straighten, shoving Zhane toward the door even as he turned back to the window.

"Get Ty," he said over his shoulder. "Meet me outside--the girls are in trouble!" The words tumbled out even as he pulled his digimorpher free, morphing seconds before the teleportation stream carried him out of the room.

The night exploded around him, full of starlight and purple luminescence and--quantrons? His morpher beeped belatedly, and he didn't even bother to acknowledge DECA's alert. There was no way quantrons should have been able to get here, now, with no warning at all. They had bypassed every alarm the Rangers had, not to mention those of the Kerova system itself.

But they were here and they were attacking and that was all he needed to know. He slammed into the first metallic soldier he saw, caught sight of Ashley, tossed another quantron to the ground, ran for her side. She was already morphed and taking out quantrons with an easy grace that looked unreal in the glowing darkness.

He didn't have any time for admiration as the ground next to him burst into searing flame. The fire clawed its way hungrily skyward, consuming a quantron he hadn't even seen until it was melting slag in the middle of killing heat and flame. He threw himself out of the way, but the fire was gone by the time he hit the ground. So was every trace of the quantron it had devoured.

*It's Kerone.* Even Ashley's mental voice sounded breathless, and he was impressed by her concentration in the middle of a fight. *Don't get in her way.*

He swung his leg around almost absently, knocking a quantron out at the knees before bouncing back to his feet. He slammed his heel into the quantron's chest while he looked around, searching for Kerone in the madness. There were more quantrons than he'd realized at first, and fear turned to focus as he knocked one soldier into another and summoned the weapon he knew best.

His Spiral Saber appeared in his hand just as he caught sight of Kerone, and he actually hesitated. She stood out against the darkness of the building, glowing as brightly as though she were teleporting. But she didn't disappear, and as he watched she flung her hand toward another quantron. This one blew apart from the inside, caught in a force no less destructive than the fire that had almost singed his uniform.

Kerone was surrounded by a respectable circle of quantron-free space, and Andros was beginning to see why. What he didn't understand was what made her want to expend such flagrant amounts of energy. He knew she didn't have unlimited reserves of magical power... so where was it all coming from?

He shouldn't have stopped. A blow to his shoulder knocked him to the ground, and he rolled without thinking, getting his weapon between him and the quantron looming over him. Before he could do more than get ready to counter, though, a brilliant flash of light knocked the quantron in question back and announced its imminent demise. Zhane bowled into it, Super Silverizer converting from energy weapon to blade mode instantaneously.

Andros arched his back and snapped to his feet, swinging around to cover Zhane's back. He heard an explosion too close for comfort, braced himself half a second before Zhane's shoulders slammed into his, and felt Zhane take the support and push away without hesitation. Their instinct, their rhythm... he knew it better than any words could express.

Ty and Ashley had found each other in the melee, and when Andros had a moment to be glad he was. Ty was a crack shot, but his attention wasn't easily split and he needed someone to cover him when he lost himself in a fight. Ashley often fought with Kerone, but Kerone was a one-person army right now and there was no room for anyone else in her ever-widening circle.

It was no surprise that Kerone was the first person out of the fight, but Andros still looked around when he dispatched his last quantron to make sure she was standing. She was tense and angry looking, watching Ashley trash one of Ty's quantrons for him and clearly frustrated that she could do nothing in such close quarters. Zhane spun around, shoulder bumping Andros' again, lowering his weapon only when it finally sank in that it was over.

"What was that about?" he demanded, as Ty took out the last quantron and lifted his head to look around for more. "Where did they come from?"

"No idea." Ashley threw her weapon away with a flourish, and it vanished before it could hit the ground. A gesture she had picked up from Ty, Andros knew. "One minute we were alone, and the next thing we knew quantrons were swarming everywhere!"

"Good thing you called Andros," Zhane put in, glancing from him to Ashley. "DECA didn't even know what was happening until after he'd sent me to get Ty."

"Kerone," Andros said, watching warily as she made her way over to them. "Any idea what just happened?"

"No," she said, tossing her head. "How would I know? I was just as surprised as you."

"Yeah, but we weren't the ones making quantrons disintegrate like they were dust bunnies," Zhane put in. She was no longer glowing, and the violet light that had illuminated the battleground when they first arrived was gone. "Want to tell us how you were doing that?"

"You know I can do that!" she cried, stamping her foot impatiently. "You've seen it before!"

Andros exchanged glances with Ashley, hoping Kerone wouldn't notice. He saw his own unease reflected in her eyes: Kerone was calmer than this. Once she might have been the easily excitable princess of evil, but she had learned to tone it down since then. She wasn't one to shout at Zhane just because he asked her a question.

"Sure we have," Zhane agreed. "One quantron, or two. Sometimes a few at a time, but twenty in a row? Or more? I lost count of how many quantrons you turned to dust or ash just by looking at them."

"I got it done," she said angrily. "What are you complaining about? They were attacking us!"

"Yeah, but why?" Zhane wanted to know. "What were they doing here? And how did they get past a dozen different security systems without tripping a single one?"

"I didn't call them here to destroy them," Kerone hissed. "But if you want to accuse me of something, go right ahead."

"Wait a minute," Zhane said, holding up his hands in surrender. "I'm not accusing you of anything. You took out an awful lot of quantrons without even touching them, and I just want to know how."

"I'm a sorceress, Zhane! It's called magic! What else do you want to know!"

"Why you suddenly have so much of it," he shot back, his voice perfectly even. "Where's it all coming from, Astrea? You never throw energy around like that."

"'Never'?" Her voice rose, and suddenly it dawned on Andros that they were facing off against her. Her against the rest of the team--but would she feel threatened if he moved to even things out a little?

"I never do that!" she shouted, her tone dangerously close to hysteria. "That just shows how much you know, doesn't it! Why don't you ask Ecliptor about how the magic never builds up, never bursts out when I forget to use it, never turns on people it's not supposed to when I try to ignore it! Why don't you ask Saryn about how it never explodes--"

Her voice broke, and as she gulped air into her lungs Zhane took another step toward her. He gestured behind his back, telling the others to give them some space. He must have realized how it looked, too. Andros nodded to Ashley and Ty when they glanced at him, and the three of them fell back a couple of steps.

"It's done this before?" Zhane was saying calmly. He didn't lower his voice, speaking in a normal tone that was clearly audible to all of them. "You have to use your magic or it accumulates and makes you do crazy things, is that what you're saying?"

"It grows," she said bitterly. "I told you that. It's always done that, but when I was on the Dark Fortress it didn't matter if I had a temper. I could blow up whatever I wanted, and no one cared."

"Hey, you can blow up as many quantrons as you want," Zhane told her. "No one's complaining, here. But if it's going to hurt you, we need to know what we can do to help. You said it happens when you forget to use it?"

She nodded, looking more miserable by the minute.

"So can you use it to do other things?" Zhane pressed. "I mean, it's not like destroying quantrons is a problem, but you don't seem very happy about it. Can you get rid of some of it before it makes you like this?"

"Yes," she muttered, drawing in a shaky breath. "I try to. I just..." Her shoulders fell as she sighed, and she glanced around at the rest of them. "I don't want to freak anyone out," she said, her gaze settling on Ashley. "I know you're not all that comfortable with magic."

"I wondered why you stopped teleporting so much," Zhane remarked idly. "You don't have to hide it from us, Kerone. We're a team, remember?"

"Yeah," Ashley seconded. "When I said you were freaking me out, I didn't mean the magic! I meant you being all--spacey. You're not usually like that."

"I think your magic's amazing," Ty added emphatically. "I want to see you use it!"

"So do I," Andros said more quietly. He looked from Kerone to Zhane and back again, marveling at the way they understood each other. No one else on the team would have been that comfortable standing up to her, that was certain. "We have the Power, Kerone. You have magic. It's the same thing."

"It's not the same thing," she said, sighing again. "The Power doesn't make you like this."

Ashley laughed, startling Andros. "You're kidding, right? Kerone, have you seen Andros fight? You think he's that crazy all by himself?"

"Yes," Zhane put in unexpectedly, and Ashley rolled her eyes at him.

"No," she countered. "Did you see me jump out of the window?" she added, addressing Kerone again. "How stupid was that? You think I did that just for the fun of it? Being a Ranger makes you a little crazy, okay? It's just something we get used to. All of us."

Andros lifted his eyes to the height of the zord bay involuntarily. She had jumped? He was unspeakably glad that he hadn't seen that.

"That's true," Ty said slowly. "I'm a lot more reckless now than I was just last year. I guess... you have to be, to do this kind of thing."

"Welcome to the club," Zhane said, clapping him on the shoulder cheerfully. "Isn't life fun?"

Ty gave him a wry look, but he didn't protest the gesture. "It's a lot more interesting than it used to be, that's for sure."

"Give it time," Zhane advised. "It only gets better."

"We still don't know how those quantrons got past the system sentries," Andros interrupted. It wasn't because Zhane and Ty were standing so close, and it had nothing to do with the familiar look that had flashed between them. It was just that there were more important issues to address. "Let alone the PD, DECA's scanners on the Megaship, and the alarms around the zord bay."

"They did trip the hangar alarms," Ashley pointed out. "The fact that DECA alerted Zhane and Ty proves that. We just didn't have any warning beforehand."

"We'd better check in with DECA," Andros said, his mind already racing ahead. "See when exactly she realized they were here. If they managed to disguise their presence outside the hangar bay--"

"They could be anywhere on the planet right now," Zhane finished. "We wouldn't even know."

Andros nodded grimly. "Let's go," he said, turning toward the hangar. Then he caught sight of his sister, and he paused. "Kerone?"

"I'm fine," she said, waving him off. She seemed to have regained most of her composure, though her smile was tremulous when she tried it on him. "Better, anyway. Don't worry about me."

"That's what we do," Zhane said gently, closing in on her other side. "We all worry about each other. It's a given, so don't tell us how to do our job."

Andros found himself smiling back at her, more than a little touched by Zhane's consideration. He really did know how to care for people. And he did it as naturally as breathing, without even thinking about it.

"This means we're not going to sleep tonight, doesn't it," Ashley said. She fell into step beside him with a sigh. "It already feels like I've been awake since yesterday."

"You have been," Andros pointed out, wondering if the PD had been able to pick up the quantrons' energy signature once they appeared from--wherever they had come from. If it had come, DECA would have that message for them too.

"I haven't," Ty reminded them. "And sometimes it's worse to get some sleep than none at all!"

"Complaints, complaints," Ashley teased. "I'll trade!"

"I told you to go to sleep," Kerone murmured, from her place by Zhane's side. "That's what you get for not listening to me."

Ashley twisted her head, pushing her hair back over her shoulders, and a moment later she remarked, "I thought I got a cool glowing butterfly. How long does this last, exactly?"

Andros glanced over at her in surprise, and found her holding an ethereal butterfly-shape in her left hand. There was no mistaking the purple sparkles that outlined its form... it was definitely something of Kerone's. But where had it come from?

"Don't know," Kerone admitted, watching the ground as they made their way down the slope to the front of the hangar. "It's not like the others; I gave it its own energy. So... until it burns out, I guess."

"Where did that come from?" Zhane wanted to know. "Did you make it?"

"She made a lot of them," Ashley offered, when Kerone didn't answer right away. "This one was a lizard for a while."

"I was just trying to burn some energy," Kerone muttered. "I made little... creatures. Ashley saw them and came out to see what I was doing."

"Can I see?" Ty asked, curiously.

Ashley held out her hand, and Andros tried not to make it obvious that he was watching. Then he caught Zhane's gaze out of the corner of his eye, and he smiled ruefully. The Silver Ranger grinned back, making no attempt to conceal his own interest.

They reached the front entrance to the hangar before the glowing creature's novelty wore off, and Andros had to remind himself to focus. The PD would have done a flyby before now if they'd detected the quantrons, and their absence didn't bode well for the state of Kerovan security. The Megaship's scanners had been enough to cover an entire planet in the past--could they do it again?

DECA's hologram was waiting for them just inside the door.